Short stories born out of mere emotions of Life

Who ailed more ?

Memories....memories were all that Mrs. Sinha, an 80 year old retired veteran had of her husband. And she chose to think over and over, about her life over a cup of warm tea. It soothed the scars of mistakes and made her feel better every time. After all, living all alone at this age was not comfortable at all.

 One such day, she was reminiscing on old, faded memory, when suddenly she heard the noise of screaming and shouting from the house next door. "Ah, it's the Vermas again!It's sad how the new generation can't handle their teens properly." Now, the family she was talking about, was the Verma family. They were a very happy and small family consisting of the parents and a teen daughter. But since recently, there have been regular fights, probably amongst the parents and the teen girl. "You are the most ungrateful wretched child in the world !!", cried the mother, "But why don't you guys just support me ?", asked the girl and after a series of more exchange of fiery dialogues, the girl rushed out of the house and sat on a stool in Mrs. Sinha's garden. Mrs. Sinha did not want to interfere in the family matters of the Vermas, but seeing the temper of the people involved, she was intrigued. She decided to check it out. After observing the girl for sometime, she brought a tray of juice and some biscuits to cheer her up and have a talk with her. As she sat down, the girl was terrified and started apologizing for sitting in her garden without her permission. Now the good old lady, calmed her down, and said "Its alright buttercup, you can share your problems with me. I might be able to help you." The girl then launched into a long conversation in between periodic sobbing. She explained, "You see, I am a little too studious. My parents want me to take part in other activities which I can do pretty well, but I don't want to. The things I like to do, my parents don't consider them as talents and whenever I score less, my parents taunt me day and night about it and make me do household chores saying, that I cannot do anything by studying. They call me things like selfish, useless and troublesome. " Mrs. Sinha consoled her, "Oh Child, parents are meant to be strict. They really don't mean to say such things, but they have to, so that the rebellious fire in you shall ever burn and help you achieve success in life." The girl interrupted "It's easy for you to say so aunty, but the daily taunts, fights and anger just don't help me out in any way. Whatever I do, I don't think my parents will ever support me .". Then, she said thank you to Mrs Sinha and went back, promising her to come back. Mrs Sinha too picked up the tray and started back home, while going she glanced though the small window of the girl's house...there, her mother was crying pitifully and talking with her husband. "Oh, what will happen with her ! I am soo tensed!"...the father consoled her, "Don't worry, we will always support her no matter what." 

Mrs Sinha sighed hearing the parents."How ironical!" she thought silently. After a few days of peace, the girl again visited the old lady. They had a long chat at the end of which, the girl asked a rather curious question "May I take the last cookie from the tray for the last time ?", the lady was rather intrigued- 

"Last ? Are you shifting or something ?"

"Well not exactly, but we'll see" 

there was a sad faraway look in her eyes from where no one could get any clue of her thoughts.The girl went away with a unusual sad mist surrounding her mind. All went smoothly until evening, when Mrs Sinha suddenly heard a series of police jeeps. "Police ? That too, at the Verma's. Oh My God !" she rushed out and saw a huge crowd in front of the house, she then got to know that the girl she used to talk  with, had run away after a fight with her parents. Mrs Sinha was horrified. After the police went away and the crowd went to their respective worlds, she quietly entered the Verma's and saw the parents ......no....not crying....but silently going through a very old album. The old lady was rather surprised, and silently took her seat at the sofa. Mr Verma gave a sad smile to her, and said pointing to a picture "You see this grieving old banyan tree ? The whole tree used to look soo happy and young when a our little daughter used to swing on it. The birds would suddenly start singing, the wind would wave the leaves with a musical symphony and our then 2 yr old little girl would laugh gaily while swinging."he pointed outside the window "The tree still stands there but without its old companion" Mrs Verma then said, "But people always forget the sweet memories while sticking to the bad ones. She started to think that she was all alone. She became rebellious, and started forgetting who she was . She started disrespecting everyone, and she underestimated our love for her. " After a long conversation that continued till the sorrowful midnight, Mrs. Sinha took her leave. 

From that day for a week or so, she visited the sad parents waiting for their daughter to come back from some unknown land. Then one day, Mrs Sinha went to the Verma's but was surprised to find no one, she called out for them but to no avail. Then suddenly her eyes fell on a small note on the table, it read "Binding ourselves to the branches of old memories forever ."Mrs Sinha fell to the ground and looked outside the window. Yes, the Banyan tree said it all. Mrs Sinha, silently called the police and secretly hoped for the reunion of the parents and their Little angel who had lost her way home , in the Home Above.